This invention relates to thermostatically controlled outlets and more particularly to a dual thermostat controlled outlet capable of controlling both heating and air conditioning units.
Essentially, as will be explained, there are many facilities which can utilize both air conditioning and heating units for all seasons. These typical units may be wall-mounted, floor-mounted or window-mounted units. The units usually have their own thermostat controls, and the thermostats associated with the units monitor the temperature at the location of the unit which temperature can widely vary in other parts of the room. This aspect was known in the prior art and reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,165 which issued on Jan. 15, 1974 and which patent shows a thermostatic control whereby a thermostat controls a relay to enable power to be applied to an air conditioner or other unit which may contain its own thermostat.
The main objective of this patent is to locate the thermostat remote from the plug-in box, and therefore the thermostat can be placed in any part of the room. The patent describes such a system which is relatively simple and enables one to operate a unit which is plugged into the housing associated with the thermostat to conrol the room temperature based on the location of the thermostat. The thermostatic switch in the patent closes to complete the circuit and therefore operate the unit as indicated.
The above cited reference, while using the concept of a remote thermostat to control an air conditioner or other device is extremely limited in application. As one can ascertain, due to constraints of modern society there is an extreme desire to save energy and to still allow a business or a residential facility to operate in a comfortable environment.
In particular, there are small businesses like machine shops and other such facilities where the rooms or environment must be kept dust free with comfortable temperature control. The apparatus to be described is capable of controlling multiple devices such as heating and devices whereby the thermostat being remotely located from the units can be placed in a position which will afford a comfortable operating environment.
Based on the dual control, certain types of machinery such as evaporator fans can be turned on automatically before condensing units start up, and essentially the apparatus, as will be described, has multiple uses in multiple applications. The apparatus has multiple AC outlets into which various units can be plugged and controlled by means of two thermostats which are mounted on a common housing and which can be separately controlled. For example, one thermostat controlling a low temperature relating to a cool condition of the enviroment while the other thermostat can be set to control a higher temperature relating to a heated condition of the environment.
The thermostat control circuits are interwired so that the heating unit cannot be on at the same time the air conditioning unit is on and vice versa. In this manner, based on dual control aspects, the unit has the ability to separately control individual units so that a proper operating environment can be established which therefore assures that the user can save energy by the use of the device with a savings in cost. The device, as indicated, has many uses in regard to small businesses and home environments and is especially useful for operations that exist in tool rooms and inspection rooms where wide temperature changes can be extremely critical because of the fact that precision work pieces will react to temperature changes and change dimensions.
The dual thermostat controlled outlet unit, as will be described, therefore enables one to achieve extremely accurate control of room temperature. As will be explained, the device has many other uses which will become apparent upon reading the specification.